The acknowledgements at the end of Amy Mason’s debut novel start with the conventional words of gratitude: “I would like to thank …” but then she immediately adds “(most of these should also be apologies)”. Mason ends her list with the name Stefan Brugger – but again, subverts the convention with another rider: “(unless he dumps me, then please cross this one out)”.That gives you the flavour. It is a cliché universally acknowledged that first novels are autobiographical. If that is the case here, nobody would blame Stefan for dumping her.  Ida, Mason’s heroine, if such is the mot juste, is a nightmare of a girl. We learn her story through multiple flashbacks, but the present narrative is set in 1999 when Ida, now nea